Search This Blog

FALLING SKIES - WEEK 3: "GRACE"

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE EPISODE - THERE ARE SPOILERS CONTAINED HEREIN!YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

FALLING SKIES – WEEK 3 – “GRACE”

The 4th of July holiday necessitates a little bit shorter post this week.

Last night, our third episode, “Grace”, aired.When I read the script for this one, the most interesting idea to me was that the skitters were using our own kids to fight against us.This is a frightening concept.

Melinda Hsu Taylor wrote the script, and it was directed by Fred Toye. Fred has worked with me before – he was originally an editor and actually edited an old Spielberg show, TAKEN.He began directing on LOST and since has done FRINGE, V and many others.

The single most difficult production problem we faced on this episode were the scenes that had the skitter in the cage.

The skitter was designed and built by Todd Masters in Vancouver and even though it was unwieldy, because of its design, it was a marvel.It really looked real on set and it worked flawlessly.

But flawlessly doesn’t mean fast, I mentioned in last weeks blog that the skitter was a full-scale animatronic puppet.It took five people to operate it.One puppeteer was inside the suit and he controlled the body and the upper arms, as well as the direction the head faced.Two others had radio remote controls, which worked the various servos that operated the mouth, eyes and eyebrows and controlled the skitter’s face.Two others lay hunched on the ground or hidden behind objects on set to work the legs with rods.The puppeteer inside the skitter wore a green screen body suit so that if we ever saw his legs we could remove them digitally.

We were shooting in the summer and the guy inside the suit was buried beneath six inches of foam rubber.He was heating up quickly.Between takes, we had to stuff an air conditioner hose down the skitter's face.He could only go ten or fifteen minutes between takes – then he had to get a break.When they peeled him out of the suit between takes, sweat just poured onto the ground.He was a pretty skinny guy in the first place and I think he lost weight as we went.

Because of all this, it was painfully slow working on set.The skitter first appears in the previous episode – but the way the schedule laid out, we shot scenes for “Grace” first.

Anytime you're working with a big mechanical thing, there is a trial and error period.With our TV schedule we didn’t have time for many screen tests – we just threw it in front of the camera and started shooting.The digital skitters had been built for the pilot and we knew how they were supposed to move – but now we had a man in a suit in a cage with four other people and trying to figure out how to make him move left and right and so on was challenging. In the end, the simple trick that worked is we put him on a small rolling chair – the kind with no back you’d see in a doctor’s office.The operator rolled left and right while the puppeteers moved the legs up and down.There was a definite “ah-ha” moment when we figured that one out.

PIX:

EARLY CONCEPT ART FROM TODD MASTERS

THE SKITTER'S HEAD BEING MOLDED IN CLAY - THESE PHOTOS WERE SENT TO PRODUCER'S FOR NOTES

TODD'S FIRST CONCEPT ART FOR HOW THE SKITTER WOULD BE OPERATED - THE ACTUAL FINAL VERSION WAS LARGER THAN THIS

Comments

"In the end the simple trick that worked is we put him on a small rolling chair – the kind with no back you’d see in a doctor’s office. The operator rolled left and right while the puppeteers moved the legs up and down."

This series is of the kind one would like to know more did where in the space aliens come from? How are they physically? How many planets have been conquered? etc. But something that if you want to know is what has happened to the rest of humanity? I liked the series, congratulations, although there is much better, expect to work hard to make the story more real and solid. Especially in the special effects. The comic was excellent for DarkHorse fact, it would be great to have a Vlensa in the TV series. One of my hopes as a viewer is to see a more real guerrilla war, learning military tactics, unity, solidarity and love (is that churches will exist, as would the Reilgion ?)...Wow! Number of issues to explore in a situation like this! Thank you.

I liked the series about lotro gold , congratulations, although there is much better, expect to work hard to make the story more real and solid. Especially in the special effects. The comic was excellent for DarkHorse fact, it would be great to have a Vlensa in the TV series with cheap wow gold.

"In the end the straightforward trick in which worked can be all of us placed your pet with a small moving easy chair the type without having again you'd see inside a doctor's place of work. The user folded nearly everywhere even though the puppeteers moved your thighs around." Buy Eden GoldCheap WOW GoldRunescape Gold

In the end the simple trick that worked is we put him on a small rolling chair – guild wars 2 gold the kind with no back you’d see in a doctor’s office. The gw2 gold operator rolled left and right while the puppeteers moved the legs up and down."

cheapest fifa 13 coins is the most typical technique folks utilize to obtain money from a change mortgage loan. Some outdated folks get their cash using a mixture of these techniques. fifa 13 coins sell's possible to get monthly payments while also finding a big slice of cash at the start too. The term opposite home loan is a simple strategy for 'reversing' a home loan. As an alternative to having to make monthly premiums if you take out a home WOW Game can actually acquire monthly obligations them selves.

y the negative attitude towards Anne, Tom and their baby. For one, I feel this is their ultimate revenge against the aliens, to continue the human race. 2, It adds a new dynamic to the show. 3, These people know that life is short and they have t

Popular Posts

Tonight's episode was written by: Joe Weiseberg And directed by: John Dahl I love this episode (and I hope you do to) for all the ways
in which it deepens and elaborates our big-picture storyline. We’ve been worried about Ben and how connected he (and all
the harnessed kids) are to the
skitters… And then, beginning with
episode 3, of this year, we saw the connection, and perhaps control the Red-Eyed
skitter, has over Ben – but now the story gets even more complex, with the idea
that some skitters may have rebelled from their masters and want to join
the humans in fighting. The way
Remi Aubuchon and his team have taken our first year story and added to it is
just great and this was an exciting episode to produce. Usually a few weeks before we get a script for an episode,
the writers will send us an outline.
This is generally an 8 to 10 page document that lists the scenes and
overall beats to expect in the upcoming teleplay. It’s a great way to begin planning, but usually they’r…

Tonight’s episode was written by Jesse Alexander and was directed by Adam Kane. Both of these gents have been workhorses for us. Jesse is a most formidable presence in the writer’s room – driving the scripts and stories forward. And he has written several key episodes for us. Adam, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, was the director of photography of the pilot. We gave him his first episodic break as a director last year with “.07%." This is his third episode for us.

Tonight’s episode weaves past, present and future together in the way that only we can. Adam and Peter finally leave the Montreal warehouse and begin working together… But for good or for bad? Sylar implements the next phase of his plan, which has unfortunate results for one twin. Suresh has a breakthrough, and then a setback. Claire contemplates life without father, unaware that dear old HRG is trapped in the basement of Primatech.

Hello blogreaders. Tonight’s episode of HEROES is entitled “Kindred.” It was directed by Paul Edwards, (http://imdb.com/name/nm0250267/) who directed 2 episodes last year, “Seven Minutes To Midnight” and “Five Years Gone” (which many felt was one of our best last year). It was written by JJ Philbin, who is a new writer on the show this year (http://imdb.com/name/nm0679902/). JJ is a great addition to our team. She’s excellent in the writer’s room and was also a strong steady hand on set. HEROES, as you can imagine, is a complex show to drop into – but she has done so seamlessly.

DIRECTOR PAUL EDWARDS

WRITER JJ PHILBIN IN SCRIPT DISCUSSION WITH GREG GRUNBERG

WRITER JJ PHILBIN AND GREG GRUNBERG IN FURTHER SCRIPT DISCUSSION

This episode is a little tricky structurally. It begins to solidify and focus some of the new ideas that were introduced in episodes 1 and 2. Peter, who was discovered alive but without memory in episode 1, begins to fit in and function within t…